Photo: @henricasta // @nicvonrupp
If you’ve been following Nic von Rupp’s exploits this winter then you already know he’s had a 2025 for the books. The Portuguese charger has never been a stranger to chasing down Europe’s heaviest swells but this big wave season seems to be serving up highlights at an exceptional clip for von Rupp.
At the top of the list, of course, was Nic catching the biggest wave of his life during Storm Herminia. Unsurprisingly, that wave was ridden at Nazaré, which is pretty much ground zero for any and all XXL action whenever a purple blob shows up on Atlantic Ocean forecasts.
The guy has to break away from home and score the occasional international bomb, though. Last year von Rupp traveled to Ireland for an XL swell hitting Mullaghmore Head and was slapped with 12 hours of transit.
“It’s pretty crazy what we do, just to get one barrel,” he said after spending half a day attempting to get on a flight out of Lisbon. Funny enough, he probably found himself thinking the same thing when he got to Ireland for another XL swell. This time the challenge wasn’t getting out of Portugal, it was making the two hour drive from the airport to his hotel the night before a session. The actual problem: parking in a yellow zone during a middle-of-the-night pit stop for candy. The price tag for such an offense: the police took Nic’s rental car and he had to troubleshoot getting to his hotel, boards in hand, after that.
So, a full year later and Nic von Rupp’s getting more curveballs thrown his way trying to get a few Mullaghmore bombs. Did he score? Absolutely.
It’s pretty crazy the things we do just to get one barrel.
